[horde] ActiveSync disappearing and reappearing contacts

Wed Jul 15 23:03:36 UTC 2015

On Thu 16 Jul 2015 12:08:20 AM CEST, Matthias Marx <mmarx at netdmon.de> wrote:

> On Wed 15 Jul 2015 10:16:39 PM CEST, Michael J Rubinsky  
> <mrubinsk at horde.org> wrote:
>
>> Quoting Matthias Marx <mmarx at netdmon.de>:
>>
>>> On Wed 15 Jul 2015 01:49:18 PM CEST, Michael J Rubinsky  
>>> <mrubinsk at horde.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Quoting Matthias Marx <mmarx at netdmon.de>:
>>>>
>>>>> On Mon 13 Jul 2015 05:00:55 PM CEST, Michael J Rubinsky  
>>>>> <mrubinsk at horde.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Quoting Matthias Marx <mmarx at netdmon.de>:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Mon 13 Jul 2015 02:15:58 AM CEST, Michael J Rubinsky  
>>>>>>> <mrubinsk at horde.org> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Quoting Matthias Marx <mmarx at netdmon.de>:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Hi everyone,
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I have a strange problem with ActiveSync since a while but  
>>>>>>>>> ignored it since CardDav syncing is working as a workaround.  
>>>>>>>>> Maybe someone has the same issue or could point me in the  
>>>>>>>>> right direction what's wrong with my installation.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I have a very small horde installation where I used only one  
>>>>>>>>> account since a couple of years, this account is working  
>>>>>>>>> fine. Recently I added more user accounts, including a brand  
>>>>>>>>> new test account, and they are experiencing the following  
>>>>>>>>> issue.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> When I add the test account as and Exchange Account on a  
>>>>>>>>> Nexus 5 or Nexus 9 device the setup process is working fine.  
>>>>>>>>> I'm using a self signed certificate so I accept all SSL  
>>>>>>>>> certificates during the setup process and I'm currently only  
>>>>>>>>> testing contacts syncing.
>>>>>>>>> The contact syncing seems to work correctly and the contacts  
>>>>>>>>> appear in the devices address book but on the next sync  
>>>>>>>>> operation all contacts vanish from the device, they are  
>>>>>>>>> still on the server(horde webinterface) though. On the next  
>>>>>>>>> sync all contacts reappear in the address book, it's like  
>>>>>>>>> toggling between "no contacts" and "all contacts" between  
>>>>>>>>> sync events. I also tried creating contacts on the device  
>>>>>>>>> while it was showing "no contacts" or "all contacts" but  
>>>>>>>>> after the next sync event those contacts are gone and they  
>>>>>>>>> are not synced to horde.
>>>>>>>>> I have even seen, when I have a lot of contacts in the  
>>>>>>>>> address book, that the horde contacts appear one by one in  
>>>>>>>>> devices address book while it is syncing and at the end of  
>>>>>>>>> the sync process, at the moment it is finished, all contacts  
>>>>>>>>> disappear from the device.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On a side note, for the calendar it is something similar.  
>>>>>>>>> While the device is syncing I see(can select) the test  
>>>>>>>>> account calendar appear in the calendar App but as soon as  
>>>>>>>>> the syncing finishes the calendar disappears from the device.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Here is the ActiveSync log of two syncs:
>>>>>>>>> http://netdmon.de/public/2015-07-08_horde_active_sync.txt
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> There are no errors in the horde logfile, just the notice  
>>>>>>>>> that the user login succeeded.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> If you need more information please ask. I can also provide  
>>>>>>>>> access to the test account and the ActiveSync log but not  
>>>>>>>>> publicly.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> This works fine locally on all of my actively tested Android  
>>>>>>>> devices, as well as a 5.0.1 emulator. Your log shows a normal  
>>>>>>>> sync cycle of requesting and receiving a single set of  
>>>>>>>> contact data consisting of 2 contacts.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I noticed that you don't have any email folders being synced.  
>>>>>>>> Some clients don't behave very nicely when you do that so you  
>>>>>>>> might want to try synchronizing email as well to see if that  
>>>>>>>> helps.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Mike,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> thanks for looking into it. I tried enabling the e-mail sync  
>>>>>>> as well as a result the behavior changed. Now, while the  
>>>>>>> device(Nexus 5, with Android 5.1.1) is syncing the two  
>>>>>>> contacts appear, then disappear, then appear again and finally  
>>>>>>> disappear, then the sync is finished. I tried it a couple of  
>>>>>>> times, here is the log, but I see no obvious errors there  
>>>>>>> either.
>>>>>>> http://netdmon.de/public/2015-07-13_horde_active_sync.txt
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Also my primary horde account, which is also enabled on this  
>>>>>>> device, is working fine, btw. there I don't have e-mail  
>>>>>>> syncing enabled, only calendar and contacts.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Oh, you have two accounts on the same device, connected to the  
>>>>>> same Horde install? There may be some strange interaction there  
>>>>>> I'll have to test when I have time. Would you know if the same  
>>>>>> issue occurs on one of your new accounts when it's the only  
>>>>>> account set up on the client?
>>>>>
>>>>> Sorry for the late reply ... I'm in the process of migrating my  
>>>>> server from Debian 6 to CentOS 7 ...
>>>>> I wanted to do that anyway and thought that maybe some kind of  
>>>>> odd behavior of the old php5.3/mysql5.1 version could cause  
>>>>> this, but I still see the problem with php5.4/mariadb5.5.
>>>>>
>>>>> Back to your question I didn't explicitly test my test account  
>>>>> as an only account on the Nexus devices but I remember that I  
>>>>> had the same issue with a new account when I first setup the  
>>>>> device, my workaround was then to use CardDav for the contacts  
>>>>> and no calendar syncing because that's not used on this device.  
>>>>> But now the user on that device would like to use calendar  
>>>>> syncing as well, so that's the reason I'm trying to fix the  
>>>>> ActiveSync stuff.
>>>>> Could you point me in the right direction for the Android  
>>>>> emulator you are using, I could set it up and try to recreate  
>>>>> the same behavior with my test account.
>>>>
>>>> http://developer.android.com/tools/devices/emulator.html
>>>
>>> Thanks, using that is easier than I thought.
>>> Here is what I tested:
>>>
>>> * Lollipop 5.1.1; One/Same test account
>>> * Sync contacts; Sync calendar; no email
>>>   * Same behavior as described before
>>>   * During sync, contacts appear and vanish again
>>> * Sync contacts only
>>>   * Same behavior as described before
>>>   * One sync, contacts appear, next sync contacts vanish, and this  
>>> cycle continues.
>>> * Lollipop 5.0.1; One/Same test account
>>> * Sync contacts; Sync calendar; no email
>>>   * Same behavior as with 5.1.1
>>> * Sync contacts only
>>>   * Same behavior as with 5.1.1
>>> * KitKat 4.4.4; One/Same test account
>>> * Sync contacts; Sync calendar; no email
>>> * Works fine, as it should, contacts stay visible on the device  
>>> even after several syncs.
>>> * Can also create a new contact on the device and it is synced  
>>> back to horde correctly
>>> * Can also create a new contact in horde and it is synced to the  
>>> device correctly
>>>
>>> So it looks like KitKat is working properly, after adding the new  
>>> contacts I started 5.1.1 again and the contacts also appear there  
>>> but the behavior is still broken like before.
>>>
>>> I'm a puzzled by the fact that I have one account which is working  
>>> correctly.
>>
>> I'm puzzled by the fact that this doesn't happen on ANY of the test  
>> devices or emulators I've tried. Including the 5.0.1 version.
>>
>> When I get time, I'll try a 5.1.1 AVD, but otherwise I really don't  
>> know what else to tell you since I can't reproduce it and there  
>> have been no other reports from other users/admins either.
>>
>> One thing I *will* say is that Android almost always breaks if you  
>> try to synchronize without providing any email folders to sync. We  
>> get around this in Horde by sending phony INBOX/Trash etc... when  
>> you disable email sync in the activesync config. I assume this is  
>> disabled since you say you are not using email sync?
>
> Ok, I always thought that enabling the e-mail syncing "worked",  
> because in the sync settings it was shown as finished, and did no  
> difference to the contacts syncing, but after you insisted that this  
> could cause problems I tested it again.
> I removed all user data, removed the account from the 5.0.1 AVD.
> Then I added the account again to the AVD and kept all sync  
> checkboxes enabled, i.e. syncing contacts, calendar, e-mail. Syncing  
> finished, at least it seems so, still the problem with the contacts.
> I then wanted to check the mail syncing by accessing the Mail app  
> but it's always showing "Getting your messages" with a progress bar  
> that is running, but nothing happens. I also cannot send mail  
> through this account.
> Here is the sync log for the whole process:  
> http://netdmon.de/public/2015-07-15_horde_active_sync.txt

I think you were right. For the account that's working, e-mail syncing  
via ActiveSync is also working.